Posted on 07/28/2006 12:43:30 PM PDT by sergey1973
PRAGUE, July 28, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- A Gazprom subsidiary recently issued a report recommending a dramatic change of strategy for the Russian gas industry. It determined that Russia should decrease exports of natural gas to European markets and concentrate instead on developing new gas fields to keep up with domestic demand.
The Research Institute for the Economics of the Gas Industry, NIIGazekonomika, determined in its late 2005 report that domestic consumption of natural gas is increasing at a faster pace than projected in Russia's two-year-old Energy Strategy
The company, a fully owned subsidiary of Gazprom responsible for researching economic and management issues, stated that Russia should focus on developing new gas fields in the Yamal Peninsula and other locations in order to meet future domestic demand.
Failure to do so could have a seriously detrimental impact on Russia's future economic growth, the report warns.
(Excerpt) Read more at rferl.org ...
Eventually, Russia is either going to have to use the natural gas, or export it. Keeping it in the ground will not earn them anything.
Now perhaps there is an emerging petrochemical industry, or growing energy demands, that would justify the decision to divert potential exports (and earning credits in trade), to domestic use, to be used for manufactured goods which then could be exported, earning credits in trade.
Russia has looked to China, and seen that huge profits are to be made in being the manufacturer of common consumer goods. While Russia has an enormous stock of available fuels along with vast quantities of other natural resources, China is in the position of having to import much of their energy needs, and in fact, is rather limited in the availability of other natural resources. And the Russians, of course, think themselves much more sophisticated and clever than the Chinese, why are they trailing them so badly?
A bit more of a squeeze on the Euros...
Well, China was able to put together a workable market economy and the system to support it.
Politically, it's very repressive state, but economically, they did marvelous job--we have to give credit where credit is due.
they are trailing so badly because they have no work ethic that would make an investor want to build a plant. The don't have any young people - the typical worker in heavy industry. They have trained the workers to pretend to work while we pretend to pay. So who will manage this type work force and turn it into something like the Chinese?
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